Town Meeting Day preview: Milton voters face many spending questions

Budget hikes and $9.8M high school project on ballot

Feb. 26, 2013

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

Milton

• Informational meeting: 6 p.m. Monday, March 4, at the high school auditorium. • Voting: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 5. • Proposed town budget: $6.945 million, up 5.2 percent from the current budget ($6,602,224). • Selectboard: Three seats. Pamela McKenna, an appointed incumbent, for three-year term; John W. Bartlett, incumbent for a one-year term; and Louis H. Mossey, incumbent, for one-year term. • .Items: $240,000 bond issue to pay for repairs to the waste water collection system and a half-cent levy on the tax rate for a public recreation reserve fund. • Proposed school budget: $24.8 million, up 6.54 percent from the current budget ($23.28 million). • School board: Two seats. Jim Lyons, incumbent, for three-year term and Reginald Godin, incumbent, for one-year term. • Items: $9.77 million bond issue for building improvements at the high school, including $3.5 million for cafeteria renovation; $5.1 million for locker room reconstruction; and $1.15 million for other improvements including mold remediation and installation of a fire suppression sprinkler system and new mechanical controls.

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Milton’s Town Meeting Day ballot will ask voters whether they approve a 5.2 percent increase in the town budget and a 6.5 percent increase in the school budget — plus several other spending initiatives that will affect residents’ bills.

School Superintendent John Barone, in his February newsletter, explained that even with a 6.5 percent increase, the school board proposed a list of significant reductions, including elimination of 10 positions. None are teachers. Five are support positions — people who monitor students boarding buses, in the cafeteria and on the playground.

The staff cuts are contingent on teachers assuming those responsibilities, but that remains under negotiation with the teacher’s union, according to school officials.

The board’s recommended budget makes $422,956 in spending cuts because costs for other line items are expected to increase. For example, the district has yet to reach agreement on a new contract with teachers, but the budget reflects the expectation that staffing costs would increase, Business Manager Don Johnson said. Likewise, the district doesn’t have final figures for health insurance, but Johnson said he received advice to plan on about a 14 percent increase.

School officials acknowledge the challenge of asking voters to approve a budget increase plus two money articles.

“Historically, in the seven years I have been here, our budgets may pass or fail by as small a margin as 50 votes,” Johnson said. By contrast, he noted, “Our community overwhelmingly supports capital improvements and those articles have passed by significantly larger margins.”

Johnson said Milton spends less per pupil than its neighboring school districts. He reminds that during the height of the recession the board presented back-to-back budgets that cumulatively reduced spending by 10 percent. However, Johnson said, “We simply cannot continue to operate while maintaining that level of reductions.”

Voters will be asked to approve a $9.77 million bond issue for work on the high school cafeteria, locker rooms, mold remediation and upgrades to the mechanical and fire suppression systems.

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The superintendent’s newsletter explains that the cafeteria and locker rooms fail to comply with the Americans’ with Disabilities Act and “are outdated and inadequate to meet the current needs of the school and community.”

The school board has also asked voters to approve a short-term loan of $435,456 to cover a deficit in last year’s budget caused by over-expenditures for maintenance, professional services and technical education and by unplanned expenses for homeless and out-placed students.

The board notes in its report on 2012 that “changes in financial reporting and controls have been implemented to better manage FY13 expenditures and cash flow.”

The town side of the budget faces at least one of the same pressures as the school district — rising health care costs, Town Manager Brian Palaia said.

He noted, too, that fuel is more expensive, and the town electric bill will rise because of an addition to the library.

The Selectboard also included $17,000 in the police budget to start a canine program.

Voters will find a separate article asking them to approve $240,000 in long-term borrowing for waste water system upgrades.

The board also suggests a half-cent be added to the tax rate to raise money recreation capital reserve fund. The plan would be for this half-cent to be part of the tax rate in future years.

The Selectboard said the recreation reserve could be tapped for projects such as designing a multi-generation community center and amenities at Middle Road Park, including pathways from the parking lot to the playground, a new swing set and portable toilets.

Residents will be able to quiz town and school officials about these spending proposals at back-to-back informational meetings Monday starting at 6 p.m.in the high school auditorium.